As more brands turn to social media influencers to promote their product or service, it’s becoming increasingly important for businesses and buyers to understand how the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) applies to sponsored content. Influencers don’t have to disclose any commercial arrangement regarding the products and services they promote and are free to express their opinions, but companies that...

The McGowan Government's new tenancy laws to better protect tenants experiencing family and domestic violence have passed through State Parliament. The passage of the Residential Tenancies Legislation Amendment (Family Violence) Bill will provide more options and greater support for those experiencing family and domestic violence. The amendments are aimed at giving the victim better choices,...

Whether it’s a dog, cat, bird or fish, buying a pet is generally an exciting purchase, but if you’re buying a pet online, beware of pet sale scams. Scammers have been using animals to get their paws on pet-buyers’ money for years. We’ve received reports of monetary loss from many heartbroken victims of online pet sale scams who paid for animals that never arrived. Scam advertisements for pets are...

A Perth gutter repair and roofing business and its sole director have been ordered to pay a total of $14,400 in fines, compensation and costs at Perth Magistrates Court for taking money for services from a consumer but failing to deliver. Alloy Roofing Pty Ltd was fined $8,000 and ordered to pay costs of $3,500 for breaching the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) when it accepted payment but failed to...

The average price of unleaded petrol is set to increase by over 21 cents per litre (cpl) to 138.3 cpl tomorrow, so FuelWatch is encouraging Perth drivers to fill up today to save money. FuelWatch advises that on Tuesday 12 February 2019, most Coles Express sites are increasing their ULP price to 145.9 cpl (increasing by 31 cpl). Most Caltex Woolworths sites are increasing their ULP price to 144.9...

The New Year is off to a bad start for scam losses with 86 victims in WA losing $1.81 million in the first month of 2019. This follows the release last week of the 2018 annual scam report which showed 569 victims losing a total of $10.7 million over the year, a substantial increase from the previous year. Individual losses for January 2019 reported to WA ScamNet included a romance scam victim who...

Buying a second-hand car can be a smart way to save money, but it’s important to be aware of the hidden risks that can come with used vehicles. Most people assume a vehicle's odometer is a reliable measure of how far it has travelled, but this may not always be the case. Misrepresenting the number of kilometres a vehicle has travelled to attract a higher price is a calculated deception that takes...

The average price of unleaded petrol is set to increase by over 21 cents per litre (cpl) to 136.8 cpl tomorrow, so FuelWatch is encouraging Perth drivers to fill up today to save money. FuelWatch advises that on Tuesday 5 February 2019, most Coles Express, all 7-Eleven, most Caltex and Caltex Woolworths sites are increasing their ULP price to 142.9 cpl (increasing by between 28 and 32 cpl). Most...

Western Australians reported losing a total of $10.7 million to scams in 2018, a 32 per cent increase from the previous year, according to figures released by WA ScamNet. There was also an increase in the number of victims with 569 people reporting losses to WA ScamNet in 2018, a 42 percent increase from 2017. There was a huge hike in losses to investment scams, which topped the list of...

The average price of unleaded petrol is set to increase by over 22 cents per litre (cpl) to 138.7 cpl tomorrow, so FuelWatch is encouraging Perth drivers to fill up today to save money. FuelWatch advises that on Tuesday 29 January 2019, most Coles Express sites are increasing their ULP price to 144.9 cpl (hiking by 34 cpl). All 7-Eleven and most BP, Caltex and Caltex Woolworths sites are...

Recent reports from Perth home owners about bogus door-to-door sellers are a good reminder to make sure you know your rights when a salesperson knocks. In the past few weeks, people have told us about visits from door-to-door water testers who give the impression they are from the Government and make false claims about water quality, but are really sellers of water filtration systems. Under the...

A Bunbury motor vehicle dealership and its Director have been fined a total of $6,700 by the Bunbury Magistrates Court on 17 January 2019 and ordered to pay $2,000 compensation to a consumer over an illegal consignment sale. Bunbury Autos Pty Ltd was fined $5,500 after pleading guilty to entering into a consignment sale arrangement without the permission of the Commissioner for Consumer...